BEIJING - CHINA'S state media hit out on Tuesday at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's criticism of the situation in Xinjiang, describing his genocide comments as 'irresponsible and groundless.'

An editorial in the English-language China Daily said Mr Erdogan should take back his criticism that Beijing had failed to stop the violence that has blighted the remote north-west region since ethnic unrest broke out on July 5.

'Mr Erdogan's description of the riots in Xinjiang as 'a kind of genocide' is an irresponsible and groundless accusation,' the paper wrote.

'The fact that 137 of the 184 persons killed in the riots are Han Chinese speaks volumes for the nature of the event.' The editorial repeated the government's position that the initial violence was orchestrated by outsiders looking to separate the giant region of mountains and deserts from the rest of China.

'Chinese leaders are the last people who want to see happenings like these in the largest ethnic autonomous region,' the article said, adding Mr Erdogan's comments constituted 'interference in China's internal affairs'.

China says 184 people were killed and 1,680 injured on July 5, in the worst ethnic violence to hit the country in decades. The initial unrest saw Muslim Uighurs attack Han Chinese, according to the government and witnesses interviewed by AFP.

Thousands of Han Chinese retaliated in the following days, arming themselves with makeshift weapons and marching through parts of Urumqi vowing vengeance against the Uighurs.

Xinjiang is home to eight million Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people who have long said they suffer repression and discrimination under Chinese rule.

Mr Erdogan has been the most vocal foreign leader to criticise China's actions in Xinjiang, and on Saturday urged Beijing to stop the 'assimilation' of the region's Uighur minority.

The previous day, the prime minister, who heads Turkey's Islamist-rooted government, said: 'The event taking place in China is a kind of genocide.' 'We have difficulty understanding how China's leadership... can remain a spectator in the face of these events,' he added. -- AFP